Bali Prosecutor's Office Efforts To Suspension Detention Of Residents Threatened With 5 Years In Prison Because Of Landak Farmers

Photo archive I Nyoman Sukena (38) is undergoing trial at the Denpasar District Court, Bali. ANTARA/Rolandus Nampu

DENPASAR - The Bali High Prosecutor's Office is seeking to suspend the detention of suspect I Nyoman Sukena (38), a resident of Bongkasa Pertiwi Village, Abiansemal District, Badung in the case that ensnared him as a protector of Javanese hedgehogs, protected animals,

"I have asked the prosecutor's team to immediately ask for a suspension from the person concerned to coordinate with the panel of judges," said Head of the Bali High Prosecutor's Office, Ketut Sumedana, Monday, September 9.

He explained that the hedgehog case was investigated from the Bali Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), because legally, including criminal acts. Therefore, the Prosecutor cannot reject the case so that the case is in P21 and is tried in court.

This case could not be resolved with restorative justice because the case had entered the trial stage at the Denpasar District Court.

However, he has ordered the Public Prosecutor to submit to the panel of judges who tried the case so that the suspect would not be detained again at the Class IIA Kerobokan Prison, Badung.

Separately, the Head of the Legal Information Section of the Bali Attorney General's Office, Putu Agus Eka Sabana Putra, also said that the submission of a request for a suspension of detention of the suspect Nyoman Sukena had been carried out on Monday (9/9) afternoon.

"Today the prosecutor's office has submitted a suspension to the judge," said Eka Sabana.

However, separately, the Public Relations officer of the Denpasar District Court, Gde Putra Astawa, when confirmed regarding the request, said that the Denpasar District Court had not yet received a request for a suspension of detention from the Bali Attorney General's Office against Nyoman Sukena. The suspension of detention, he said, was carried out during a trial to the panel of judges.

Until now, only the suspect Nyoman Sukena has applied for a suspension of detention through his legal advisor at the trial on Thursday, September 5, 2024.

"From the legal advisory side, there has been a request for transfer/delay of detainees during the trial on Thursday (5/9). The assembly will respond in court on Thursday, September 12," said Astawa.

The defendant Nyoman Sukena is currently still detained or entrusted to the Class IIA Kerobokan Penitentiary.

At the investigation stage in the police, Sukena was not detained. However, after the case was transferred to the prosecutor's office, the prosecutor's office had been detained since August 12, 2024.

In the prosecutor's indictment, it was explained that Nyoman Sukena was arrested by the Bali Police on March 4, 2024, for public reports about his actions in maintaining the Javanese hedgehog.

Sukena was charged with violating Article 21 paragraph 2 a in conjunction with Article 40 paragraph 2 of the Republic of Indonesia Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and Their Ecosystems (KSDA-HE) and faces up to five years in prison.

The four hedgehogs that Sukena maintains are Javanese hedgehogs or Javanica Hysterix. The soil is a wild animal whose status is protected.

Based on the facts of the trial, with the agenda of examining witnesses on September 5, 2024, the hedgehog was originally owned by Sukena's in-laws. The landscape was arrested for damaging plants.

The father of two children also admitted that he did not know that the hedgehog he kept was a protected animal. Moreover, it has been keeping it for almost five years.

Moral support for Nyoman Sukena also flowed from the residents of Bongkasa Pertiwi to Sukena during two trials. The residents who attended asked that the man who worked as a chicken farmer be released because they thought Sukena's Landak was considered a pest in the area and many residents did not know the status of the Javanese Landak animal.